


Stop the Cavalry

by kaffee32



Series: Christmas 2017 [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Cassie Lang is in this briefly, Christmas Eve, Just a chat between fellow soldiers, So is her dad, bad language words, some discussion of death and violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 21:31:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13152432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaffee32/pseuds/kaffee32
Summary: Frank Castle has business on Christmas Eve in Central Park, but when a little girl offers him a candy cane, and Captain America offers him advice, will Frank change his mind?Based on the song, Stop the Cavalry, by Jona Lewie.





	Stop the Cavalry

_Hey, Mr. Churchill comes over here_  
_To say we're doing splendidly._  
_But it's very cold out here in the snow_  
_Marching to and from the enemy._  
_Oh I say it's tough, I have had enough_  
_Can you stop the cavalry?_

_I have had to fight almost every night_  
_Down throughout these centuries._  
_That is when I say, oh yes yet again_  
_Can you stop the cavalry?_

 

 “Excuse me, Sir.” 

Frank Castle opened his eyes to find a small brown-haired girl in a colorful Holiday Sweater standing in front of him.  His quick assessment put her at about eight or nine years old.  A man in a matching Holiday sweater stood a few yards away.  “Yeah?”

The little girl held out a candy cane that had been decorated to resemble a Reindeer.  A brown pipe cleaner was twisted at the top for antlers, little eyes were glued on the wrapper, and a there was a small red ball for the nose.   

“My friends and I are in the park today to pass out these candy canes that we made, to spread holiday cheer, and to let people know about the Christmas feast that Stark Industries is sponsoring tomorrow at the shelter on 71st Street.”  She pushed the candy cane toward him, along with a little card that had the address of the shelter on it.  Frank took it, glancing down at his oversized hoodie and jacket.  Both had certainly seen better days.

“That’s very sweet of you, but I’m not actually homeless,” he chuckled.  “I just have terrible fashion sense.” 

The little girl giggled.  “Well, I don’t think you actually have to be homeless to come.  I think you just have to not have anyone to spend Christmas with.  Anyway, you can still keep the candy cane!”

“Well thank you.  I do love candy canes.  Did you make this yourself?”

“Yes!  Well, maybe not this exact one, and I didn’t glue any of the eyes or noses on, because my daddy says I’m still too young to use a hot glue gun.  I put a lot of antlers on, so maybe I did these.”

“You did a great job.  It’s almost too nice to eat.”

“Hey Cass,” the dark-haired man who’d stayed close by while she talked to Frank, yelled over to her.  “Do you have any more candy canes?  Lila and her dad ran out.”

“I do! I’ll be right there, Daddy.”  The little girl turned back to Frank.  “I’d better go.  Merry Christmas, Mister!”

“You too, sweetheart.  Thanks again for the candy cane.”  She ran off toward her father, and grabbed his hand, as they headed down the path toward the others.

She wasn’t gone very long before he was approached again.  Frank had spotted the man coming up the path, while he was talking to the little girl.  He was dressed in a Christmas sweater as well, with a brown bomber jacket over it.  His height, build and blond hair made it easy for Frank to identify him.

“You with those guys?”  Frank gestured toward the two little girls, who were now splitting up the remaining candy canes.

“I am.  We’ve been all over Central Park, and I’m exhausted.  Mind if I sit down for a minute?  They look like they’ve got it under control for now.”

“Far be it from me to deny one of the oldest living veterans a seat.”  Frank motioned to the empty spot next to him.  “So, this is how Captain America spends his time when he’s not fighting bad guys?  Passing out candy canes in Central Park?” 

“It can’t all be aliens and evil intentions,” he grinned.  “I spent half a day helping to make those candy canes, and the worst injuries I got were glue gun burns on my fingers.  It’s a nice change of pace.”  He held out his hands for him to see, but Frank couldn’t see a single burn.  “So, you apparently know who I am, but what should I call you?”

“Pete.  My name is Pete.”

Steve Rogers nodded.  “Nice to meet you Pete.  Iraq or Afghanistan?”

“Both.  How’d you know?”

“You have the look of a man sitting on a park bench, with the world on his shoulders.  I see that look on a lot of Vets these days.  I saw it back in my day as well, but somehow it seems to be a lot more common now.”

“Well, I think the difference is that more of us survive and come home.” 

“Good point,” Steve agreed.  “We lost more people during the Battle of the Bulge than we’ve lost in the entire Middle East conflict.” 

“Yeah, that’s a good thing, but now guys are coming home all kinds of fucked up instead of dying, and nobody seems to know what to do with them.”  He looked over at Steve and shrugged.  “Sorry about my language.”

“Right, because no one ever said a bad word in World War 2,” he grinned.  “Anyway, it’s terrible that these guys are out here not getting the help they need.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty messed up.  The holidays just seem to make everything worse.”

“That’s one of the reasons we are in the park today, and doing the dinner tomorrow.  A lot of the homeless in the park are Vets.  We just want them to know that someone cares.”

“That’s good.  It’s a good thing to do,” Frank nodded.  “It’s hard being deployed during the Holidays.  Even harder to be home and alone.  I never minded being deployed, except at Christmas.  It can be a lonely time when you’re away from your family.”

“What?  The USO shows didn’t cheer you up?”  Steve replied with mock offense.  “I was in a lot of those shows before they finally let me fight, you know.”

“Yeah?  Well, they were a good distraction, but not the same as seeing your kid’s excitement on Christmas Eve.  My son’s favorite thing was to go see those ridiculous giant red ornaments on Sixth Avenue.  When he was little, he called them New York’s big balls.  My wife and I would giggle like middle schoolers.”

“Those things are huge,” Steve agreed.  “I didn’t have any family waiting for me at home, so it wasn’t so bad for me.  Just about everyone I cared about was over there with me, anyway.”

“The Howling Commandos.  They were legendary.   I had a buddy over in Afghanistan who was the biggest fanboy.  I swear, he knew everything about you all.  He’d shit himself if he knew I was sitting with you right now.”

“They were a great group of guys.  We did what we could to make Christmas seem special, just like I’m sure you all did.”    

“We did.  But I think what you’re doing here is nice.  These guys need it.”

“I know.  Too many people are out here alone, when they don’t have to be.  Some guys seem to think that they are still at war.”

“Maybe some of them are.”  Frank looked over at Steve curiously.  “There’s a lot of bad stuff that goes on in this city.”

“True, but it isn’t their job anymore.”

“War is war, Cap,” Frank shrugged.  You find the bad guys, and you kill them before they kill you, or someone you love.”

“Yeah, but back here, the enemy doesn’t really wear a uniform to identify themselves.  That’s why we have police and the legal system to sort out the guilty from the innocent.”

“Yeah?  You think that’s what they do?”  Frank shook his head in disbelief.  “Prison is like a vacation for some of these guys, and half the time, if they have enough money, they never even see the inside of a cell.  Wilson Fisk is a prime example of that.  I don’t know how many times that bastard’s been arrested, but thanks to a corrupt system, he’s back out on the streets, every time.  Arresting him doesn’t do shit.  Double tap to the head?  Problem solved.”

“It’s not up to us to be judge, jury and executioner.”

“Well, somebody has to do it.  The police can’t.  You ever heard about a gang called the Kitchen Irish?  What about the Dogs of Hell?  Both used to run different parts of Hell’s Kitchen.  They terrorized good people, sold drugs to kids, and murdered without a second thought.  It was all about power, territory, and money for them.”  

“I’m sure the police did what they could to…”

Frank interrupted him by laughing.  “Nothing ever stuck to the guys in charge, and the low-level guys were in and out of prison, or easily replaced.  The police couldn’t do shit.  One day, they decided to take a little trip uptown to this very park.  Had themselves a nice little gang war over where the carousel was.  By a fucking carousel where families were spending the day together.  Killed a woman and her two kids.”

“I remember the story.  I think Tony donated money to refurbish the carousel.”

“Stark’s real good with throwing money at shit like that, but doesn’t want to get his hands dirty, now does he?”

“That’s not fair.  Tony Stark has risked his life many times for this city and the people in it.”

“I suppose you’re right about that, but the Avengers sure as hell aren’t down here cleaning this park out.  Somebody’s gotta do it, yeah?”

“Somebody did, didn’t they?  Wiped out both gangs in a matter of days.  Without due process, how can anyone be sure that everyone he killed was guilty of those murders?”

“They’re all guilty, Cap.  That’s the point.  From the shot callers to the guy’s selling dope on the street corner.  It’s not that easy to get rid of them, either.  Sure, both of those gangs were gone for a while, but guess what?  Someone else stepped up and took over, and their back.  Out here selling drugs like nothing ever happened.  They’ve even made their way back to this park, and do you think Christmas Eve is gonna stop them?”

Steve leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.  “I understand that they are wrong.  That doesn’t make killing them right.”

“You all have no problem taking out aliens who fall out of the sky, or HYDRA members where you find them.  Hell, it wasn’t too long ago that you all were trying to take each other out.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Steve sighed.  “We aren’t perfect.  We do, however, give people a chance to surrender.  When they don’t?  Then we do what we have to do.  It’s true that the Avengers focus more on the big picture than the small details, but we can’t have vigilantes deciding who gets to live or die in the streets.  Eventually, we will come after someone like that.”

“But that’s exactly what the gangs do, isn’t it?  They don’t care who they hurt, or who they kill.  Seems to me that they get what they deserve.  War is hell, Cap.”

Frank was positive that Captain America had a lot more to say on the subject, but he seemed to decide to let it go.

“Well, I should probably head out and catch up with the others.”

“I bet you have a big fancy party at Stark Tower or something tonight, yeah?  Well, while you’re celebrating the holidays, I sure hope that none of these gangs decide to hurt anyone else’s family.”

Steve nodded, a little guiltily.  “I hope that you decide to do the right thing, Frank, especially on Christmas Eve.  Someone like you, following the rules, could be a huge asset to this city.” 

He wasn’t surprised in the least by the use of his real name.  “I believe I am doing the right thing.  Merry Christmas, Cap and thank you for your service in the past and the present.”

Steve nodded.  “Same to you.  I am very sorry about what happened to your family, and I really do hope that, in the future, we don’t have to ever meet as anything other than friends and fellow soldiers.”  He walked off, leaving Frank by himself with his reindeer candy cane.

* * *

 

Later that night, the party at Stark Tower was in full swing, when Tony found Steve and Sam shooting pool.  He was holding a tablet, and grinning from ear to ear.  “Hey Cap, you have a fan.”

Steve took the tablet and looked at the screen.  A photo was posted on the New York Times website, of four men, tied together with a big red ribbon that Steve was pretty sure came from one of the trees in the park.  They were all unconscious, and had taken one hell of a beating, but Steve was relieved to read that they were alive.  The caption explained that the police found them that way, with enough drugs to put them away for a long time.

Another photo showed a close up of a note tied to one of them. 

_Merry Christmas, Captain.  I’ll get’em next time._

It wasn’t signed.  There was just a small skull drawn at the bottom.


End file.
